Day 22
Welcome to Day 22 of Hooked on Writing, your free online writing course. This online workbook will help you create a writing habit in 31 days.
Random Facts & Phobias
Aim:
To construct a story based on random words, one fact, and a phobia.
How:
- Your random words are:
- Purple
- Short fuse
- Gifts
- Clueless
- Addiction
- Your one fact is:
- In the USA more than 10 000 000 prescriptions are filled incorrectly in a calendar year.
- Fiona Greene has this phobia:
Agoraphobia – a fear of open places that makes her heart beat faster, makes her lose her breath, and generally feel terribly anxious.
- She rushes home. Pulls the medicine cabinet open and swallows the tablets. The pill she’s swallowed is not only bitter. It is also a stimulant. Her prescription has been incorrectly filled.
- Write a scene where you use the words, the phobia, and the chaos that ensues.
- Include lots of body language and strong verbs.
- Do not use any ‘ly’ adverbs.
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Result:
Phobias are a great way to create a story.
At Night
Use your writing journal here. Write ‘At Night’ at the top of a clean page. Free write or expand on the exercise you’ve completed today. (If you want to buy the downloadable workbook, which includes space for these exercises, you can get it in our store for only $20.)
‘The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone’s neurosis, and we’d have a mighty dull literature if all the writers that came along were a bunch of happy chuckleheads.’ – William Styron, interview, Writers at Work, 1958